IKEA Ektorp Sofas For Our Living Room

Jan122016

As much as I love the idea of having a really pretty home, I love the idea of being able to actually live in each room. Like really live, without worrying about every little spill, every fort made from cushions, every wrestling match that involves throwing a sibling across the back of the couch, every chocolate handprint. . . You know what I mean, I’m sure.

When our very tan, very saggy Craigslist couch could take no more, I started shopping around. But, it’s not like everyone in this house (ahem, the other six people who live here) would change their ways if I brought in the most beautiful, most expensive sofa ever made. For us, at this season of our lives, I just want a comfortable, stylish couch at a price point that won’t make me a nervous wreck when my kids act like kids.

The IKEA Ektorp ($399) with washable slipcovers made perfect sense for our family. You may have noticed I’m drawn to the casual white slipcovered look in general. But, add in the fact that I can wash them as needed, and it’s hard to beat. (By the way, I was happy to read how many of you love your own Ektorp sofas after I posted this picture on Instagram a couple of weeks ago. Since it sounds like yours are holding up really well, I told my 11- and 9-year-old they might be taking these to college one day!)

You may have noticed I went with two identical, facing sofas. I’ve always liked this look and the price point of the Ektorp makes this arrangement much more feasible. Plus, more seating is always a good thing for our family. There was a little convincing my husband hat this layout will still work for basketball watching. . . Don’t worry. Our TV is tucked in this corner, with plenty of good seats for viewing:

One thing I’ve been learning about IKEA lately is their approach to “democratic design.” They strive for each of their products to make people’s lives better at home by focusing on five main principles: quality, form, function, price and sustainability—and you can really see all these elements come to life in the Ektorp. Not only do the couches look pretty—and from what I hear from your comments—hold up extremely well, the functionality of the washable slipcovers is a huge plus for families like mine. And at such an affordable price point, you can very reasonably buy two sofas for the price of one that you might find elsewhere (yay!). IKEA delivered the sofas and they came flat-packed (a sustainable approach to shipping), with minimum assembly required.

We had 25 people coming to our house the day after they arrived, and since the slipcovers weren’t coming for a few more days, I asked the delivery guys to leave the boxes in the garage. The twins were seriously ticked that they didn’t take them out of the boxes. (Notice hands on hips.) They were ready to sit on their new couches! I had to explain this to them several times. :)

With the sofas in place, I’m feeling pretty good about the state of our living room. On to the next room. . .

Thanks to IKEA for sponsoring this post. I’m proud to serve as an official IKEA brand ambassador for 2016. All opinions of IKEA product mentioned are 100% my own.

I love the idea of mixing in Ikea stuff (your sofas and garage mudroom) with your more higher end decor finds to make a stylish family friendly space. I feel like its easy to overdue the ikea thing and it ends up looking like a dorm room. I love your style and know you will strike the perfect balance to inspire us all. Wonder if you will use their cabinets in your new kitchen??? mixed in with other high end finishes…now that would be something.

We had the nice sofa in the living room (we are retired so we figured–it’s time), but we both wanted something more casual, something we could stretch out on. We opted for a sectional with no regrets (from Macy’s) and moved the “nice” and more expensive sofa to a bonus room so it’s still useful. When we have family gatherings or friends over, it’s so “nice” to all be comfortable and not worried about mussing up. learned another lesson.

I really want these couches but my husband and I are both super tall (6′ & 6′ 5″) and they feel too small. I wish they offered a bigger version! I love the family friendly approach to decorating. Wise words!

My husband and I are fairly tall as well – I’m 6′ and he is 6’2″. I too, thought the Ektorp wouldn’t be comfortable for us, and I even sat in it twice in the store and thought “nope, not for us!”. :-) But this past summer I decided I wanted a white slipcovered sectional so we sold our leather reclining sofa and bought a very well loved Ektorp off of Craigslist for $100, and then bought the new $100 sectional slipcover. Once we got it home my husband asked why we didn’t do it sooner. He loves lounging on it.

While our previously leather sofa back came up high and supported our neck, the Ektorp is comfortable to us in different ways. We love lounging in the corner and laying with our legs up or we love sitting on the end. We got a Stocksund ottoman and it looks wonderful with the Ektorp, so even if I don’t sit in the corner, I still have somewhere to put our feet up. :-)

I have been leaning toward the Ektorp for just this reason but I was hesitant. We have kids and a giant dog who prefers the loveseat to the floor. Knowing that I can vacuum the hair away, then wash & bleach when I need to makes so much sense! If your home with 5 kiddos can handle it, I’m guessing mine can too. Your room already looks so lived in, stylish and lovely!

I have the exact same sofa in my family room. I was wanting to get a sofa and loveseat for my great room but Ikea says it is not available anymore at Charlotte. (Insert sad face!) I am very surprised that Ikea would discontinue these since blogland seems to indicate they are very popular! I did purchase an extra cover for mine so at least I have that!

Hi Jeanne–Just a quick update. They are making some changes to the slipcovers and replacing a few of the colors with new ones, available by Feb. 1. They are not discontinuing the Ektorp seating, though, so maybe it’s just temporarily out of stock at that store…

I just decided I want the loveseat with chaise, IKEA is saying that only the blekinge white one is discontinued, which of course is the one I want. :( Do you know if they are replacing it with a new white?

I purchased the Ektorp love seat 13 years ago when we moved into our current house and our kids were the ages of yours now. I have a little sitting area off our bedroom and didn’t want to spend a lot of money furnishing it so I thought the Ektorp loves seat would be a great temporary fix. Well 13 years later it’s still going strong! Here’s a little tip…once or twice a year when I felt the white was getting a little grungy I would go through a whole process to wash and then hang to dry the slipcover. Then one day I was in Ikea and discovered that to purchase a whole new white slipcover for the Ektorp sofa it only costs $49! And the love seat slipcover was even cheaper! So now I don’t even bother to wash it. Every spring when I am giving the house a little refresh I just head to Ikea and buy a new slipcover. When I put that new slipcover on, it feels like I bought a whole new love seat which it why it still looks great after 13 years!

Emily, I love the 2 matching, facing sofas. If I did this one of mine would have the back facing the front door. Seems odd to me, what do you think? And can you pull to show a wide picture of how your look? And what they back up to? Thanks

I don’t think it seems that odd. What if you did a sofa table behind it? It can sometimes help to create an entry and then section off the rest of the room… Our other sofa (on the right side) has the kitchen doorway behind it. The room isn’t huge so it’s hard to photograph the whole thing.

We have had two of these awesome couches, also with the white slip covers, for about 5 years now. They really are phenomenal! When we first brought ours home we did tweak them a little, to make them more substantial though. We had a 5 inch memory foam mattress topper laying around unused. I just laid each back pillow on it, drew a template, & then cut it with a knife. I then stuffed the memory foam into the pillow & slipcover, so that the memory foam sits flush to the sofa back, and doesn’t look all lumpy. It has made all the difference for great back support, and makes the couch look even better!

I recently purchased (a week before Christmas) an Ikea Ektorp loveseat with chaise, white slipcover. I love it. It is so comfortable and I have found that spot cleaning works really well on small “oops” moments. Just warm water and a sponge does the trick. Also I learned a trick to get the wrinkles out of the fabric WITHOUT ironing. Just spray warm water on the wrinkles and smooth them out with your hand. Works like a charm…seriously the easiest “ironing” I have ever done!!

PS. I love how the two sofas look flanking the fireplace. I wanted to do that but my living room is not large enough. Awwwww.

I meant to say I bought the loveseat with chaise with the Blekinge white slipcover. Sorry if I made it sound like I only bought a white slipcover…oops. Anyway, I love mine and I’m sure you will love yours too.

We have the Ektorp sofa and love seat with the same white slipcovers in our sunroom. I love them! They’re sturdy, comfortable, and I love having the ability to wash them. I wash mine with Tide and a scoop of Oxyclean, which gets any stains out. I dry them on air dry for a little bit and then on LOW heat until they’re about halfway dry. Then I put them back on still damp (usually at bedtime), turn on the ceiling fan, and they’re dry the next morning.
One tip: if you bring those end pleats together with your fingers, and clip them shut with a big metal clip (even one of those chip clips), once the slipcover dries and you remove the clips, it will looks as if it’s been pressed! Love the fresh clean smell of the room after the covers have been laundered!

So… I’m wondering about something that might be kind-of personal. Has your old house sold yet? Have you already posted about that? We went through a big house search year-before-last, and decided to stop looking and just stay put (for now). We also decided that when we are ready to move, it will make a lot more sense for us to sell our house before we buy a new one. That is really scary to me because I think it’s going to be very difficult to find the right house, and I don’t want to end up selling our house and then having nowhere to live. Anyway… I’m just curious how the process has gone for you, and if you have any recommendations or regrets.

Hi Jenny! Yes, it sold in November. I actually have a post almost finished about that, so thanks for the reminder to get it done :) We did buy before we sold, and it’s such a big decision. For us, the move was mostly about getting our kids into a new school district before the school year started. Good luck with your decision!

Your room looks so pretty, Emily! I absolutely *love* the idea of identical sofas flanking the fireplace. Wanted to do that in my living room but it’s a bit too narrow. Great choice, I’m sure they will be well loved and used!

I bought the Ektorp loveseat for a vacation home a few years ago and loved it so much that when my Ethan Allen sofa in my permanent home started looking shabby, I opted to replace it with the Ektorp sofa. I love the fact that you can have clean slipcovers rather than disguise the dirt, and I don’t have to worry about damage from grandchildren or pets.

My daughter had that couch. She was so tired of buying slipcovers and washing them. It’s alot of work. You can’t put them in the dryer because they shrink. They were draped all over the house. They now have a bonded leather sectional, that works out great with the small children and 2 dogs. I too, have a slipcover ed sofa from a much more expensive furniture company. Hate washing the covers. Takes forever. I’ve learned a lot from experience. No ikea for me. Not a comfortable sofa.

I have an old beige Pottery Barn basic couch, and when I went to research slipcovers for it, I was aghast at the $700 plus price tag!! Enter Ikea- I bought a white Ektorp slipcover ($50) which I hacked by cutting in half!! I bought a white matching Ikea curtain to drape over the cut part (over the back, and in the front under the cushions. The Ektorp cushion covers are tight, and a beast to take/on off, but I love my secret hack! My couch backs up to front window, so no one sees the mess in the back!

I love the slipcovers on our white Ektorp sofa and loveseat, but am worried that the cushions are starting to seem flat and out of shape. Has anyone found a way to “fluff” the cushions, or maybe add some some extra batting to the seats?

Me me!!!! I bought a bag of polyfil from Amazon. A five pound bag. I unzipped the backs of my seat cushions and stuffed one pound each between the foam and the sheet fiberfill, smoothing the filberfill as I went. The liner zip thing that goes around the foam holds the batting also. Adding an extra pounding to each question after four years really pop them up nicely, and I’m about to add more to each seat. My backs are fine.

So I am a huge fan of the blog – you know I live for the Saturday Six – and an equally huge IKEA fan but I was surprised to see this post on behalf of IKEA because I went to buy ( Atlanta store) an Ektorp sofa with the same Blekinge white slipcovers before Christmas and there were discontinued signs all over them. I asked and they said that Ektorp was staying but they couldn’t get the white slips anymore from suppliers (store empolyee) I emailed them and was told the same thing. I then proceeded to try and find one anywhere and have it shipped. IKEA responded by saying that they couldn’t ship any discontinued sofas. Frustration!! I went in last week to look at other options and they had a floor sample Ektorp with a big “new” sign on an off white/ linen looking slipcover (and I was going to settle for it!) and then a smaller sign saying they were temporarily oversold. More frustration. And then here is a post promoting a sofa and slip combo that I have been told multiple times in the last 2 months that it is no longer available?? Do you have insider info?? Is it coming back???

Okay, so here’s the scoop. I learned that the Blekinge white is one of a few colors that are being discontinued. They are being replaced with new colors (not sure what) starting Feb. 1st. They are not discontinuing the Ektorp seating series. I was able to get the two slipcovers for our sofas but no additional ones were available at the Charlotte store, so I quickly went on Ebay and bought another set. I’m thinking when more people find out, they’ll go quickly and for a pretty penny on Ebay…

I think you are so smart to use slipcovers with kids. We’re empty nesters so I don’t worry about kids but I do have a very messy husband. And my daughter brings her giant beast of a dog with her when she visits. The dog won’t walk on my hardwood floors (he’s so weird.) so he stays on my couch when he’s here. I will have a slip covered sofa for the rest of my life.
I’ve never tried out an IKEA sofa but yours certainly look great.
And so does that orchid with the pine cone in it on your coffee table. Cute idea!

I have several Ektorp pieces and love them, very comfy and much easier to care for than my previous leather couch. I too was very disappointed that the Blekinge white was discontinued, I’ve been buying used covers online when I can find them.

I just got on Ikea’s website to order my Blekinge white slipcover for my sofa and it’s no longer an option! No more $50 white slipcovers!!!!! They replaced it with beige! Now it’s $149 for a white cover that says do not bleach, iron, or dry……. Really not happy with IKEA right now.

Anna, I’m on year 6 with my Ektorp. I just purchased the new “off” white slipcover for $49. Washed it one time with bleach and it looks just like the Blekinge. I also bought the gray slipcover for $149 recently and love it just as much. It feels like we have a brand new sofa every time we change the slipcover!

I bought the lofallet beige because the white was so stark white and I also have a 4 year old. How did you bleach it– it terrifies me but Im willing to gamble with my $100 slipcover in order to get it lighter.

Wow! That makes me so nervous but you are SURE that if you bleach the “beige” one it will be white??? Closest store to me is 2 hours away and so it’s not easy to get over there to see the new Lofallet Beige one. I went to buy new white blekinge covers for my sofa and loveseat to find out they are discontinued :(((

i just went to ikea planning to buy the blekinge white love seat and chaise and discovered what y’all aready know… no more blekinge white :(
they have a new white made of polyester which i don’t like as much. it seems to be a harsher white. have you seen it? i’m so sad! any ideas???
i guess at least there is a white now, but definitely not the same. grr, thank you for any thoughts.
thank you

Thank you for all the great photos (adorable kids) Loved all the positive info on your Ektorp couches.

I am moving into a new apartment in 3 weeks and have my mind made up to buy the Ektorp sectional with the light beige color (almost white). yoohoo. I have done a lot of research and love it. I have loved my daughters since she bought it over 10 years ago. She has the smoky gray covers, she has two boys, that are now 19 and 14. Her set has withstood military moves across country. she has had these covers (smoky gray) for over 5 years, she spot cleans. I loved reading all the great things everyone has said about the sectional, and couches. I know I have made the right decision for me, grandsons and my little dog Marty.

Were your couches very firm when you first got them? Just assembled ours last night and they don’t feel as comfy as what I sat it at the store. Hoping they loosen up quickly; it appears they may have changed what they are made of over the last couple of years.